Stephen Michael King and Glenda Millard win best Children's Book at the Western Australian Premiers Literary Awards

New award: Stephen Michael King in his studio at Mitchells Island surrounded by his books, including recent award winner The Duck and the Darklings (centre).

MITCHELLS Island based illustrator Stephen Michael King has added another literary award to his collection.

Written by Glenda Millard and illustrated by Stephen, the book The Duck and the Darklings took out best Children's Book at the Western Australian Premiers Literary Awards.

Stephen wrote on Facebook, ‘I couldn’t be happier’.

“It's a great thrill when I'm painting a book and I watch it grow and grow into something more beautiful than I'd first imagined – artwork that surprises me even whilst I'm creating it,” he wrote.

In Glenda’s speech she said, ‘the making of any picture book, is a partnership in which artist and writer seek to balance the visible with the invisible, to say more with less, to tell enough and no more, to respect the reader’s ability to imagine, resolve and satisfy’.

“From beginning to end, artist and writer teeter on a tightrope high above the safe, the explained, the practical and the acceptable, and the expectations and hopes of their editors, publishers and readers,” Glenda said.

In an interview with the Manning River Times last year, Stephen said, ‘Glenda Millard is just fabulous with words’.

He described her book as ‘playful and dark’. He said the darkness featured in the book isn't locked into a particular thing.

"It could be post apocalyptic or the dark could be in yourself,” Stephen said.

In the book, the light shines through this book with cute characters painted on top of the darkness throughout.